Can fluorescent lamps be easily replaced with LEDs?

It seems LEDs cannot successfully be used as direct replacements for linear fluorescent lamps in back lit signs.

Traditionally, advertising signs like these use a light box construction with linear fluorescent lamps. To ensure the sign was uniformly lit – no stripes – the construction design followed simple lamp spacing rules, encompassing the distance between the lamps and the box depth. Another part of the equation being that a fluorescent lamp is a continuous diffuse light source with a 360° distribution.

LED strips and boards are constructed with many small point sources with a distribution of about 190° and are generally much brighter. It is unlikely any LED retrofit solution would work in an existing lightbox sign, even those that have a diffuser tube, because the distribution is not 360°. The result is stripes.